Gibson Dethklok Thunderhorse Explorer

The Gibson Explorer is definitely a unique looking guitar. It has almost a star shape that really lends itself to the hard rock and metal players. I don't think I've ever seen this guitar use by country player or anyone who plays a clean bluesy style guitar. This is the kind of guitar that is really aimed at someone who wants to play aggressively and in your face. I love the shape of this guitar and it's one of those iconic instruments that it stood the test of time.

UTILIZATION


Silverburst Finish
Mahogany Body
Slim Fast Profile Mahogany Neck
Ebony Fretboard
24-3/4" Scale Length
1.695" Nut Width
12" Fretboard Radius
22 Medium Jumbo Frets
Burstbucker 1 Neck Pickup, Burstbucker 3 Bridge Pickup
Two Volume, Master Tone Controls
3-Way Pickup Selector
Grover Mini Tuners
Tune-o-Matic Bridge with Stopbar Tailpiece
Chrome Hardware


SOUNDS


The tones of these guitars very similar to a Gibson Les Paul guitar or Gibson SG guitar. It features mahogany wood throughout the body and in the neck. It also has a Rosewood fretboard as well. The tone of this guitar is very warm and articulate and it also gives you a sense of a full sounding extremely aggressive thick saturated tone when you use a lot of distortion or overdrive. Quite surprisingly this guitar cleans up not pretty well comparatively to Gibson Les Paul guitar. Even though the shape of this guitar as a little bit more would it gives off a brighter and cleaner clean sound to my years in a Gibson Les Paul guitar. Overall this is a great sounding guitar and has a full warm tone.

OVERALL OPINION


You can find these guitars pretty easily but not quite as easily as a Gibson Les Paul. I seen these gopher right around $1600 all the way up to about $1700 new. They're cool guitars and if you really dig the body shape and this is right up your alley. If you're not into the body shape and you're probably pass on this and go straight to the Gibson Les Paul instrument.

The Dethklok Thunderhorse Explorer is a guitar based off of what one of the characters in the heavy metal cartoon Metalocalypse plays. It is heavy in the cartoon and in the real life it is just as metal. The Gibson Explorer is a classic rock and roll design that is regaining popularity. In the late 50s Gibson decided to start a line of more radical looking guitars. Gibson first started selling Explorers in 1958 and their design was way too radical for the time so they were discontinued a year later. In 1976 Gibson started the first reissue of the original 1958 design and now today Gibson is selling reissues of the reissues. Gibson has been producing the '76 reissue Explorer since 1990. Many people say the '76 reissues are better than the original Explorers put out in 1976. The first 50s models were made from Korina wood these are the classic yellow looking Gibsons you have seen. When they first started reissuing them they were made out of Mahogany like most Gibsons and today thats how they are made still. The guitar has a very classy look because of its fully body and neck binding. It has a 22 fret Ebony fretboard with dot inlays. The neck is a super slim 60s style Gibson neck taper for fast playing. The body of the guitar has the cool Silverburst finish which Gibson has been bringing back. It has dual Gibson humbuckers with the typical Explorer controls and switching.

UTILIZATION

This guitar improves on the already great Explorer playability. In the 60s Gibson switched to slimmer neck design. The Explorer today has that 60s design. The 60s Gibson neck profile is one of their most popular. This guitars neck is a modified 60s taper that is even slimmer and faster and unlike most Explorers this guy has an ebony fretboard that feels great under your fingers. The upper frets are easy to reach because of the Explorers design. The radical shape actually gives the guitar a perfect balance for playing while standing up. The neck will come to rest at a perfect angle due to the large body acting as a counter weight.

SOUNDS

The Burstbucker Gibson pickups in this Explorer are hotter than normal Gibson pickups so this guitar rocks even harder than a normal Explorer. The Explorer is made from a huge piece of solid mahogany and you can really hear it. The Explorers pickups come from the factory with the covers removed. Guitarists in the 70s found that if you removed the covers from humbuckers you could get a little more bite in your sound so Gibson decided to do it from the factory for the players. The Explorer sounds like what every Gibson should sound like. To emulate the sound you hear on the cartoon you may want to switch to active pickups like EMG's. The Gibson pickups are okay for metal but they really were not designed for it. EMG pickups are designed for heavy high gain music and excel at it.

OVERALL OPINION

I am very critical of pointless signature models or signature models that are so specific only the artist or a guy in a coverband could ever use the guitar. This guitar is good that it isnt too specific in what it can do. Its a classic Explorer design with some decent pickups and a cool finish you dont really see on Explorers. There are not any huge crazy logos or signatures anywhere the only extra writing is on the truss rod cover that everyone loses after 5 minutes anyway. This is how you do a signature model. Many people can use this guitar for many different things. If you are looking for an Explorer with that isnt red or black and has a finish you dont see everyday this is a good bet.